Not Another High School Love Story
by Averia of the Mist
Summary: So here's the situation. Cloud loves Leon, but Leon is getting over this seriously bad breakup that happened during the summer when he found out that his girlfriend from middle school Riona was cheating on him with his frenemy Siefer. So will the blonde finally get a chance to have a happy love story? Or will it end in ruins? AU.


**Not Another High School Love Story **

**Summery: **So here's the situation. Cloud loves Leon, but Leon is getting over this seriously bad breakup that happened during the summer when he found out that his girlfriend from middle school Riona was cheating on him with his frenemy Siefer. Leon though is friends with Tifa which means he basically hangs out with Cloud and the others who all know that Cloud has been crushing on Leon since forever. Now that senior year is here everyone is convinced they need to do something to get Cloud and Leon together, but how will they make Leon even notice Cloud when he's rarely spoken to him?

**Author's Note: **This is what I get for watching too many sappy high school movies. Thanks Netflix! Anyways, a _long _time ago when I was another name I made this story—but that story was written up when I was fifteen years old. Dear me how embarrassing! Well recently I've decided to go back to that story because let's face it—it was fun as hell to write up that story. I've decided to redesign the entire story though, since when I originally wrote it I was just bad. Anyways hopefully this version is better, of if you've never even heard of the original version, hey! I hope you enjoy this story.

**Disclaimer: **Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios own Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. I own nothing, nor am I getting paid for this. I wish though.

**Rated: **T due to the following; typical high school romance stories and language.

**Thanks To: **My beautiful international friends Sammie, Yuki, and Laura who helped me out with their own high school experiences since mine was the plainest high school experience you can ever have. Many thanks to my best friend Ria because she is just an amazing person who has been friends with me since middle school, girl we've been friends for at least seven years now!

* * *

**Not Another High School Love Story **

_**By: Averia of the Mist **_

**Prologue: **Summer Loving Ended

Cloud Strife was the eldest son in his family; his younger siblings were Roxas, Ventus, and Naminé. Of course, one would know that since they have the same blonde hair and blue eyes. Cloud was only two years older from the twins Roxas and Ventus, and was three years older from Naminé. So Cloud was dreading the day when all his siblings would have to join him in that school bus in order to get to school.

It had been the summer before he became a senior that Cloud received a call that would forever change his school life—hell his life in general. That night Cloud decided to catch up on episodes of some TV show that Naminé had been watching that he caught himself interested in when he received a text from his childhood friend Tifa. She had asked him if he could come over, apparently this was serious. Tifa knew that Cloud never liked going out so late at night; with a brief 'I'll be there' from Cloud he quickly grabbed his shoes and slipped them on before looking at himself in the mirror.

No matter what time of year it was the weather was typically cooler in Twilight Town. It was near the sea which meant the weather was normally cooler than it would normally be. Cloud was dressed in a pair of sweats and an oversized white t-shirt that had a faded symbol of SOLDIER on it, paint splatters faint from the times that his mother had to wash it after Cloud had finished painting. Cloud debated if he should ditch the shirt and get something more decent. He was about to reach for the drawer that had most of his clothes when the door opened and Naminé stood there.

"Cloud…where are you going?" she asked, holding Cloud's DVD collection of Star Trek on her arm. "I was going nowhere. Also, when did I let you borrow my Star Trek collection?" Cloud asked his sister. She placed the DVD collection on his computer desk; "You let me borrow them" she told him when she rolled her eyes "if you're going to sneak out go through the front door. Mom and dad went out on a date."

_So much for sneaking out_ Cloud sighed "You make sure the twins don't burn the house down."

"They're not Axel so I don't have to worry about that" Naminé chuckled lightly. Of course everyone remembered the day when Axel decided to try and cook something and almost burned his home down.

Cloud walked out of his room and down the hallway where in the living room he saw Roxas and Ventus both watching a movie on TV. "I'll be back. Tifa sent me a message so I'm heading to her place quickly. I expect to return to the home being exactly the same" he said to them. Grabbing his keys from the little ashtray that his mom had left there Cloud grabbed his bike.

Thankfully the bike situation will be done soon. Cloud had his permit and he has saved enough money working odd jobs to afford a car.

He began pedaling off to the familiar street where his childhood friend was.

* * *

Tifa's parents were hardly ever home, when Cloud pedaled up to the Lockhart household he was a bit surprised to see that the lights to the home were on, and in the driveway was Zack's car. It must have been more serious than Cloud had imagined if Zack was here. Zack would normally be sleeping at this time.

Walking up to the front door, Cloud didn't even bother knocking as he grabbed the key hidden underneath a plant and unlocked the door.

The minute he opened the door he saw Zack and Aerith there, they both were startled when Cloud opened the door. "Cloud, we were about to go and see if you were heading over here" Aerith said, her eyes saddening a bit. Cloud frowned in concern, "What happened?" he asked the two of them. Zack scratched the back of neck "Yeah…something happened to Leon and well…okay let me just say it. Riona broke up with him. Well, actually he broke up with her."

Aerith rolled her eyes "Oh for the love of—Cloud Leon found Riona cheating, with _Seifer_."

Oh. That was why Tifa seemed so urgent in the text messages.

Siefer has been Leon's frenemy (as Yuffie pointed out) ever since they were in kindergarten when the two picked up plastic swords and begun fighting each other. It seemed like the only reason that they weren't tearing their heads off was because of Riona. She somehow managed to calm the two enough that they have some mutual agreement that they weren't supposed to fight anymore—just make bitter remarks with each other. With Riona choosing a side now…Leon must be devastated about what had happened. Besides, Leon and Riona were a _thing_, why did she suddenly decide to do something like this? Cloud didn't know Riona very well; however he knew she wasn't an evil person. She was kind and cared more about others than herself. This is why it hurt Cloud so much when they started dating. Because he knew that Leon was better off with a beautiful girl whose soul was as pure as freshly fallen snow as to male who couldn't even look at him in the eye.

"Ah man, why…I mean she knows how much he loved her, so why do this?" Zack sighed while trying to figure out why this had happened. Aerith though shrugged "Many of the times the picture doesn't seem clear until time passes. Maybe we can figure this out when she is ready to give us an explanation."

Cloud looked towards the hallway "And Leon?"

"In the kitchen with Tifa and Yuffie," Aerith sighed "he's really broken about this Cloud, maybe you can comfort him."

On other words, try and talk to him. If there was one thing that everyone in the group (minus Leon and Cloud) knew, it was that Cloud loved Leon, however was too painfully shy to confess his love to him. The blonde never looked at Leon in the eye, and the most they had ever spoken in a conversation was a simple 'hi' to each other whenever the group met up during lunch.

"No. He barely knows—"

"Sometimes people prefer talking to strangers than to people they know" Aerith placed a hand on his shoulder "He rarely talks to you, but he does trust you" she said softly. She gave him a gentle push towards the direction where the kitchen would be. Cloud looked at his best friends for a second before allowing his body to start moving again. Although he hardly looked nervous, on the inside he was turning into jelly. Every step seemed harder and harder to complete. It was like the small hallway to Tifa's kitchen became a mile long; the very hallway that Cloud and Tifa walked in several times when Tifa's mother called them in for lunch of when Cloud had to comfort her after she had her first breakup in middle school.

When he finally reached the kitchen both Tifa and Yuffie looked up at him. "Cloud" Tifa breathed out, setting the cup of what looked like hot chocolate down on the table, right where Leon was. He looked like an absolute wreck.

It hadn't been raining today and yet he was soaking wet, his hair was pushed back to show sad looking gray eyes that made Cloud release a slight wince. It was hard to see Leon like this, although he never talked to the guy and he rarely ever cracked a smile he still enjoyed that look in Leon's eyes, it was a look of happiness. And now it's gone.

"Um…you messaged me and…oh man" Cloud exhaled "Leon are you okay?" he asked softly.

Leon looked up at Cloud, for the first time since middle school the two were actually _looking _at each other. "I'll be fine" he muttered under his breath.

Yuffie frowned "Don't be such a downer now! Cloud is worried about you—_we _are all _worried _about you. So she was cheating—this just means you're single and ready to mingle!"

"Yuffie" Tifa groaned, "she is right though Leon. I'm sorry you saw that but…maybe this is a sign for you to move on."

"She was my only one. Riona is my only love" Leon mumbled. Cloud tried to ignore the parts of his heart that were breaking apart. Tifa shook her head "Now that's not true. We're teenagers Leon—we uh…we think like that but the reality is we don't know what love is yet. Love is just something we watch on TV and read in books. So who are you to believe that Riona was your soul mate? Maybe your true soul mate...has been waiting for you to open your eyes and see them" Tifa looked towards Cloud who at that point had kept his head down to make sure Leon doesn't see the blush that was on his face.

"Tifa…you sound like my mom" Leon gave her a small smile. Tifa smiled "Hey now, I just know how this feels. Thankfully Cloud was there for me."

Leon looked up at the blonde and sighed "Thank you Cloud, even if I hardly spoke to you it's nice that you care for me."

"Of course" Cloud whispered while feeling the heat raised up form his cheeks once more. Yuffie let out a small giggle at the sight of the blushing blonde.

_At least Leon doesn't seem to hurt anymore _Cloud gave Leon a smile before returning to the living room where Zack and Aerith were.

* * *

Zack had given him a ride back home, the car had enough room in the back for Cloud to put his bike, which Cloud was grateful for—he didn't want to walk over to Tifa's house in order to get it the following day.

Entering his home, he was surprised to see that the twins were still sitting there, but rather than watching a movie they seemed to be playing video games. Naminé was sitting with them; rather than playing video games though she had a book open and was reading. "Back so soon?" Roxas asked Cloud but didn't take his eyes off the screen. If he did he would have seen the tear marks that ran down the eldest cheeks. Naminé however noticed and instantly closed her book shut.

"What happened?" she asked.

That caught the twin's attention, both Ventus and Roxas paused the game to look at their brother.

"It was nothing" Cloud whispered, rubbing his eyes to stop the new tears that were planning on breaking out any minute now. Naminé gave him a sad smile, "Was it about Leon?" she asked.

Cloud nodded "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Don't _worry _about it? Cloud you're a blonde piece of teenage angst!" Roxas snapped, he got up and frowned "Why are you making this so hard on yourself? Why can't you just admit your feelings to him and get it over with! I swear teenagers make it so hard on themselves!"

Leave it to be Roxas to be the one to speak up first. "First of all I'm not making anything harder on myself. It's not as complicated as it seems. Second of all I'm not some blonde piece of teenage angst, I am not those people writing poetry and crying when a love song comes up on the radio. And lastly you're a teenager yourself."

"Yes, but I am still a teenager in a sense that I'm still young, you on the other hand are heading to those late teen years which means those teenage angst problems will become adult depression."

"Roxas…has anyone ever told you how crazy you sound right now" Cloud muttered before going in the kitchen to grab some water. Okay, maybe Roxas was a little right—rather than writing poetry and crying over love songs he spent his time painting and imagining how being Leon's boyfriend would have been. But he can't let Roxas win this round. Those sappy love songs in his iPod and late night guitar playing can mean other things, not just the angst of having to fall in love with the one person he's never going to have.

Grabbing a bottle of water Cloud retreated back inside of his room and turned on the radio, the station was playing classical music at that point. Opening the bottle of water, Cloud took a small sip before he sat on his bed and stared out at the moon. Today plain sucked, Leon found out the love of his life cheated on him and it looked like he was swearing himself to never falling in love again.

Feeling a slight tug on his heart Cloud decided it was best to get some sleep.

* * *

Even though he just broke up with Riona hours ago, the pain was still fresh in his mind. Leon looked at the portion of the wall that was filled with pictures, notes, and little things that were all from Riona. They were a simple as a little gum wrapper where the two of them made little doodles of themselves in, notes that contained long conversations of various things, photos of them when they went out on dates or with their friends. There was even a piece of cloth that Riona had given to him in order to stop his nose from bleeding when Siefer had punched him one day.

There was one photo that always had brought a smile on his lips. It was on their first day of freshmen year. It had been Aerith's idea that everyone would take a photo. It was of the gang before the younger kids came in, back when Selphie and Irvine were still in Twilight Town High School before they both moved the Radiant Garden. They were all there smiling; Zack, Aerith, and Tifa were all around Cloud at that time hugging the blonde who had a small smile on his face. Selphie and Irvine were both holding hands smiling at the camera, even though they were both with their free hands making bunny ears to each other. In the background Leon can spot the red spikes of Axel's hair, remembering how two minutes after the photo was taken the redhead instantly became friends with them. Lastly his eyes landed on him and Riona. They were both close to each other, smiling at each other rather than the camera, Riona had been wearing Leon's infamous white trimmed jacket that day. Not that far from where Riona was Siefer was standing there, visibly being apart from the rest of the group, his eyes staring at the camera dully.

He couldn't get rid of that photo.

Even though he and Riona broke up, the photo still had other memories. The memories of when Selphine and Irvine were still there before moving, the times they were just a small group who enjoyed hanging out and eating pizza every Friday. The time that Irvine thought it would be a good idea to dress up as a cowboy even though it wasn't Halloween. There were good memories in that photo, he couldn't throw that away.

Bringing the photo down, he placed it on the nightstand before grabbing the rest of them and throwing them all in the trash.

At that moment when the first items came down there was anger pulsing through him, he didn't care anymore that the photos were torn in half, or that they were crinkled up into a ball. He wanted them gone—out of sight. His mind kept flashing to Riona who was being held by Siefer as the two were in a heavy make out.

The look of guilt in her eyes when she turned her head and saw him…

"Ugh" Leon threw himself on his bed and buried his head in the pillow.

Why does love have to be such a complicated thing?


End file.
